This was a really fun, albeit short, session. The reason it was so short (only two hours) is because of the heat wave that has been slamming the East coast the last week (yes I know Texas has been getting it worse~.<). Anyways, my office, where I'm running my Skype game doesn't have AC.. So after two hours of sitting in my boxers and still sweating profusely I felt like a day old used condom left out in the sun. I called the game and went with my g/f and got our asses ice cream.

So first off I have created an Obsidian Portal Page for the game to help keep track of all of the shit and info. If you follow my other OP campaigns you might notice that this one is a bit sparse compared to, say my Vornheim one, at the launch of the campaign.

I’m taking a different approach to this campaign in regards to world building. This is a sandbox game, but rather than taking a backbreaking detailed approach to it, I’m winging it as I go along, more in line with this.

Last session I had a rough idea of where I wanted to have the players start and I gave a good hook. And now as we progress I am adding stuff. Much of it I’m making up on the fly as we play. I’ve told my player I may have to pause here and there to add notes and shit if need be.

Jumping Right In
We began the session with the group arriving back at East End Outpost and deciding to search around and rest before beginning the task of tracking down a Medusa. The group found some goodies at the outpost and rested.

The next morning, Tomlin, the Cleric of the Harvest, began looking through the bog and picked up the tracks quite easily! Jordan, Tomlin, and the 4 NPC’s (Gregory, Benjamin, and the two Goblins, Cranky and Stinky) headed out into the bog confident of finding the hideout of the vile creature.

Aside: Liam (Tomlin) rolled a one on his Wisdom check so we joked about that for a second. Then I told him that he found the trail. There was some confusion and Liam asked if I rolled a d100 or something to see if he still had a chance. I said yep and that he did (I really didn’t. He crit failed, his ass is getting in trouble). The best part of this was I barely hear Fletch whimper on the mic, “Oh noooo.” When I said he found the trail. Hilarious.

Eventually after traveling through hip deep bog water the group comes across a huge hill that has a 20ft high and 15ft wide opening. The group ventured inside the dark dank cave (here I had them roll Intelligence checks to see if they were surprised or not. They made it, the NPCs (lump roll) were not so fortunate). Red eyes opened and a growl issued that seemed to rumble in the cave. Towering over them was a huge troll.

The goblins started shrieking, as did Gregory (it’s all he seems able to do really). There was a flash of something huge and Gregory disappeared in a spray of blood. His body was seen cartwheeling into the darkness of the cave. Jordan threw a shortspear to no affect and Benjamin ran in to take down the troll. He was then grabbed and pulled apart by the troll, how then stuck the bottom half of the corpse in his mouth and began sucking on it, like a cud, while continuing to threaten to turn Jordan and Tomlin into jelly.

Eventually the characters, realizing that they were in WAY over their heads made a break for it. Here I drew up a chart (see pic)

Yeah yeah.. My handwriting sucks ass.

and told the players that they would be making Dexterity Checks. Both of them groaned since neither had this attribute as a primary. Success meant that they moved up on box. Failure meant they made no progress. Crit fail meant that they injured themselves and got no roll next turn. Crit success meant they moved two boxes.

We did about four rounds of rolling and the troll was right behind Jordan before he popped a smoke stick to blind the creature and attempted to hide in the bog (he rolled a natural 20- so he snapped off the head of a cattail and laid underwater, undetected).

I described Tomlin looking back and seeing smoke and this huge troll blowing through it completely enraged. The goblins on Tomlins shoulders started screaming even more and began to accidentally choke him out of fear.

Eventually Tomlin hid as well and after several tense minutes of searching and yelling threats the troll left to go feast on their dead comrades.

Fletch: “I’m totally coming back to kill that fucking thing.” Yay! I have a reoccurring nemesis now. And it was all on accident.

The group made their way back to East End Outpost, slept, and then decided the next morning it would be prudent to head back to Saltmarsh and inform the city guard of their friends deaths and see if they could hire out more help to tackle the Medusa problem.

Saltmarsh
Saltmarsh (while inspired by the 3.5 DMG II) is slightly different for me. It is a town built entirely on stilts with plank walkways since the bog floods quite often. It rests on soggy land in between two steadily flowing rivers.

The town roughly a population of 10,000. Most of which are brigands, thugs, and wanted criminals. The government is happy to not pursue them, even though there is a law office and a constabulary here, if they stay in Saltmarsh. Chances are they’ll die in the bog anyways.

Here the group split- Tomlin went to meet Marshal Timmons to inform him of the death of his men and to request for more aid while Fletch went to the Adventure’s Guild (ran by Vickie “The Right Eye”) and the Thieves Guild (ran by Mercer Baltus) and see if he could hire out some trained hands.

We ended then with them meeting back up and getting ready to head to the Bloated Orc Corpse Inn to grab food, info, and sleep.

It was a really great session for only being two hours. I like how this campaign is shaping up and, again, C&C is proving to be an amazingly fun system that is not bogged down by rules or “hold on let me look at what this feat does.”

I don’t know if the next time we play will be Vornheim or C&C, but I’m generally excited about both!

Remember that his contest ends on July 27th, so if you’re going to submit something, get off your ass and do it! 🙂

The other day I was talking with my girlfriend about role-playing ideas and how I am running my Vornheim game and now a Castles and Crusades game and how both are a sandbox approach and dealing with coming up with “what is out there” for the players.

She stated something that was hard to make out through all the tears she was shedding A) due to boredom and B) The fact that she contributed to a role-playing idea.

I’m para-phrasing here but basically she said, “Well doesn’t Zak have a chart at the back of the book where you can just drop dice on and see what’s in the city (despite my g/f just doing RPG stuff for me she really does dig Zak’s book)? Why don’t you do something like that for the wilderness?” Fucking duh!?

Far-be-it for me to turn down an idea that is awesome AND is my g/f contributing to my nerdy gaming hobby!

Yesterday I mentioned that I have discovered the joys of Castles and Crusaders and that I actually got to play it on Sunday.

The session went for roughly 4 ½ hours (with a quick Chargen).

The Crew

Tomlin- Human Cleric of the God of the Harvest and Farming- level 1.

Fletch- Tiefling Fighter- level 1.

The Set Up

I’ve always liked the set up that Tim did in Return to Northmoor (which is an awesome Podcast, btw- I really recommend checking it out). I decided that I wanted to take the theme from that opening session and change it up slightly.

Like Northmoor this adventure takes place in a bog where people are farming for peat and relics of civilizations past. However I went with the moreLouisianastyle bog. Hot, murky, and oppressive.

The players had, until a year ago, served as conscripts at East End Outpost which rested at the eastern most point of the bogs peninsula. This place served to protect the trading outpost of Saltmarsh (from DnD 3.5 DMG II with my own variations) as well as watch the ocean for pirates and any type of smuggling activity that may happen in the bog.

After being released from their duties the characters traveled out of the bog and hadn’t been back for a year. Three weeks ago the characters received a note from their mentor and sergeant that something was wrong at the outpost and he needed their help.

Our adventure (again like Northmoor) began with the characters on a barge floating through the murky waters heading from the trader town to the outpost.

Starting Things Off Dangerous

Aside: My players really haven’t been introduced to that Old School feel except for what I’ve been doing lately now that I’m really getting back into it. They are used to large sums of HP, higher saves, and a cushion under their butts, should they fall, that came with 3.x/Pathfinder.

I emailed them the Old School Primer awhile back and asked them if they had read it.. Yeah.. That was a no. Oh well.

Anyways, I knew I wanted to start things off with a bang and wanted to A) show the theme of this dangerous bog. B) Try out C&C combat to see just how fast it flowed. C) Highlight the differences between Pathfinder combat and the more deadly combat that will be seen here.

The group started out on a barge being steered by a human man, mid forties, by the name of Gregory and his son Thomas. Accompanying the players were two city guard from Saltmash. A Dwarf named Furful and a human by the name of Benjamin.

I gave a quick description of the area and then had the characters make Intelligence checks (which the both spectacularly failed). Water exploded around them and two rotting creatures landed on the barge. They were emaciated and had sagging skin that was water-logged, clumps of hair were missing and their eyes were sunken in and shriveled. A blackish green substance was dribbling out of their mouth. The creatures hissed and charged at the two city guards as another one started clambering up the boat.

I couldn’t have hoped for a better first round of combat. Furful the dwarf fell hard under the onslaught of the first Bog Witch (Ghoul) while Benjamin was able to repel the second.

I had a fourth Bog Witch pop up behind the son, Thomas, and rolled to hit. I got a 20. Crit. The Bog Witch grabbed the kid and I started screaming high pitched and begging. Then I described Gregory as going frantic and attempting the hit off the creature with an oar. There was a wet snapping pop and Thomas went limp and twitched.. Then the creature pulled him into the water. Then Gregory last it and started sobbing and crying, watching over the boat as blood started to plume up from the depths.

The next two rounds Fletch and Liam rolled really well and were able to dispatch the three remaining Ghouls before Benjamin could be taken down as well.

I think Fletch got hit once, but other than that they sustained no damage, but it was a nice wake up call when 2 NPC’s die in one round.

After the battle the group, through a well placed Charm Spell by Fletch, managed to calm down Gregory and pushed on to East End, but not before cutting off Fulfur’s head and dumping his body overboard.

East End Outpost… Anybody Home?

TheEast Endoutpost showed no signs of distress or structural damage from far away. However once the group got close they say arrows stuck into the wooden archways, the main gate was open, and in the promenade they saw two statues facing the open gateway. One had a look of shock and terror and the other, his spear drawn, a look of determination.

Fletch: “Oh fuck.. We’re gonna fight a Medusa.. Son of a bitch.”

Me: Not necessarily. It could be a basilisk or a cockatrice.. (It’s a Medusa).

The group began to poke around the promenade, looking for clues. They could see that heavy things were hauled out of the area and into the swamp. As they approached the building a clanging was heard and a high squeal and cry.

Coming out of the doorway was a goblin who was crying and scrambling around blindly because he had a cooking pot stuck over his head. Behind him was another goblin that was hitting the cooking pot with a sauce pan, “Stinkily, smellily, fat, disgusting, stupid Stinky!”

The goblins saw the players and freaked out, calling them Tall Ones, and that they didn’t break the place. They found it this way.

This was a fun part. I played my part well and both Fletch and Liam seemed to enjoy the comic relief of the Goblins and weren’t honestly sure what to do with them. The goblins told the players they were told by Mama Jamba, queen of the swamp, to come check out why the outpost was so quiet.

The players finished checking out the outpost and then asked to be taken to see Mama Jamba.

The trip to Mama Jamba’s was quiet. I rolled a random encounter. There was a Dryad sunning herself, naked, outside a Weeping Willow, but by the time the players got done arguing about whether or not to talk to her they had already passed her by.

That was honestly hilarious. When I explained to them that they missed their chance..

The meeting with Mama Jamba was good and the players gained information on the Queen of Serpents, the Medusa.

After a sumptuous meal the players rested and were set to head back toEast Endin the morning to see if they could find a trail.

That is where we left off for the evening.

Both of my players liked what I had set up so I’m happy about that and they seemed to like how quick and easy the system was to comprehend and use. We’re role-playing this weekend but I’m not sure if we will be playing Vornheim or this.

Last week as a damned busy week for me. The three biggest pieces of gaming news for me are A) the release of version 3 of Wrath of Zombie (yay me!); B) The disbanding of my NJ playgroup; and C) Discovering the awesomeness of Castles and Crusaders.

A Group Disbanding

My NJ group and I have been playing together for roughly 5 years and it saddened me that the other day I sent an email out informing all the players that the group would no longer be meeting regularly. I informed them that I would run an episodic style game for them every couple months or so (probably either Cyberpunk or my Firefly: Hurtling Through the ‘Verse).

Thankfully the group didn’t dissolve due to player troubles or the like. Basically it was just getting too complicated to try and meet once a month. Things were constantly coming up for my players or I and I would have to cancel due to low attendance.

I felt it wasn’t fair to always cancel Saturday or Sunday morning before the game due to these issues. So Poof.

Luckily I still have the Skype game I am running twice a month and I’m hoping to do a game in Philly once a month here soon (the driving sucks, but for some good gameage it’s worth it).

Chuck has talked at length about his like for Castles and Crusades on his blog and with my via our email conversations.

Initially I was resistant to reading the book because I’ve read SO MANY rule book and setting books this year. However during my work on Pathfinder-Lite, Chuck kept bringing up stuff about C&C and how it worked.

Finally I cracked and gave it a look see. And damn I liked what I saw. The system is extremely quick and simple and rings true to Old School role-playing.

I won’t write a review (here’s one and here’s another) because there are plenty of people who have done one out there.

The thing that made me what to hang my head and cry (ooh good time for a Johnny Cash Plug)

Anyways is that C&C pretty much DOES what I was attempting to do with Pathfinder-Lite and it does it better and got rid of all the things I was having trouble shaving off.

The awesome thing about C&C is it is highly customizable and easy to use. I decided to keep some of the ideas and work I had done from my project and port it over to C&C.

Yesterday I had an impromptu session with my Skype group and we made up C&C characters (which is easy as hell by the way) and played a session (more on that tomorrow) and it went really well! The two players that could make it really enjoyed the ease and quickness of the system and I think were surprised at how fast you can die (none of them did, but an NPC biffed it) in Old School games VS new school.

Here’s a look at how I’ve incorporated some of the Pathfinder classes features into C&C.

Weapon Focus- A Fighter chooses a weapon at level 1 to become their signature weapon. With this style of weapon they receive +1 to attack and +1 to damage. At level 7 this bonus increases to +2/+2.

Level 4- Cleave- A fighter can make an additional attack on an adjacent target if the original attack lands.

Level 5- Bravery- A Fighter has tested their mettle against uneven odds and survived. Fighters get +2 to any saves VS fear.

Level 6- Multi-attack– A Fighter can now make a second attack with a -5 to their Base Attack Bonus.

Level 8- Vital Strike– A Fighter can choose, full action, to put everything into one attack, adding an additional d6 damage+1.

Level 10- Improved Critical- A Fighter can get a critical on an attack roll of 19-20.

Prime Attribute- Strength

Armor Proficiency– All Armor and Shields (except Tower Shields).

Level

Hit Dice

Base Attack Bonus

1

d10

+1

2

d10

+2

3

d10

+3

4

d10

+4

5

d10

+5

6

d10

+6

7

d10

+7

8

d10

+8

9

d10

+8

10

d10

+10

11+

+4

+10*

Ranger (Strength)–

Level 1- Track (Wisdom)- A Ranger is able to pick up the trail of someone or something, or hide tracks so others can’t follow him. When a Ranger does this they receive a +2 to their Wisdom check. At Level 3 a Ranger is able to distinguish characteristics of those being tracked. This can be intimate info should the GM decide to reveal it.

Survival– A Ranger knows how to survive and fight in nature. Any type of task that is nature related falls into the realm of the Ranger. This can be from climbing impossible looking cliffs, building, finding, or disabling simple natural traps, camouflaging and hiding in the brush, being able to survive and find food and shelter, and knowledge of herbs and fauna to use to treat poisons and toxins. Depending on what activity the Ranger is attempting will determine which Attribute is being rolled.

Favored Enemy- The Ranger has studied one enemy that has hounded the them in the past. The Ranger receives +2 to hit the enemy, +2 AC when fighting the enemy, +2 to tracking the enemy, and able to neutralize poisons of the enemy, whether manufactured or natural.

Level 5- Hunters Bond- The Ranger is able to form a strong bond with an animal of the wild. This animal is extremely loyal to the Range (unless obviously abused and mistreated) and will defend the Ranger at all costs. The type of animal should fit the area and feel of the campaign. This could be a fox, wolf, mountain lion, black bear, or even a Dire Wolf. The GM has final approval.

At Level 10 the Animal, from training with the Ranger, gets a +2 to attack and AC.

Level 6- Combat Marauder– A Ranger has trained hard to be most effective against their Favored Enemy. They receive a bonus to damage that is equal to ½ their Ranger level. If a Ranger is wearing any armor other than those allowed they lose this ability.

Level 10- Second Favored Enemy- This functions the same as described above.

Level 1- Spells– A Witch gains the ability to cast spells by entering into a pact with some

powerful force. This can be an unknown entity, an unfavorable God/Goddess, or even a demon or devil. While the Witch has her own free will, she may be called to serve her master or face their wrath and lose her power.

A Witch knows a limited amount of spells and is unable to cast spells from a spellbook like a Wizard or utilize any arcane scrolls. However she does not need to prepare her spells every day.

Cantrips– Level zero spells that are cast as normal, but are not expended when cast. For a Witches level zero spells per day see Spells Known table.

Pact– This spell functions like the Commune Spell except that the Witch is contacting her benefactor to answer questions or grant a favor. This should be used sparingly as the patron will ask for something in return and the Witch must be careful lest she cannot provide what it is the benefactor seeks.

A Witch must sacrifice a creature no less complex than a goat, sheep, or pig. Large dogs, humans, horses, cows, etc all work as well. A Witch can use this ability once per level. The terms of what she is asking and what is granted should be discussed with the GM. The GM will determine what is asked in return by the Patron. Once asked a Witch cannot refuse or she will be pulled into the void and tortured for all eternity.

Level 5- Hex– A Witch is able to tap into dark powers and direct them at a foe, hindering them. The target of this check must make a Willpower check -2 or suffer terrible misfortune. If successful the next roll the target makes must be rerolled and they must take the lowest of the two.

A Witch can cast this once per day until level 8 when it increases to twice a day.

Level 10- Death Hex- The Witch has become shrouded by Dark Powers. She is able to reach in and snuff out the life energies of an individual. The target must make a Constitution Save +2. Failure means the target’s life force starts fading and the target will die in 1d6 rounds. Success means the target takes 3d6 damage. A Remove Curse spell negates the Death Hex.

About a month ago I started pondering and making notes of a possible W0Z updated and with the release of Savage Worlds Deluxe Edition, the time seemed right to do so.

I’ve reworked quite a bit of stuff. See the total list below. So here is Version 3 of Wrath of Zombie (which is also a much smaller and manageable file size)! Also I have added a printer friendly version!